Melissa Horne, CSI Valedictorian 2011
Melissa Horne is graduating summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in English with a concentration in Writing. She is a Verrazano School student carrying a 3.98 grade point average and an impeccable academic and co-curricular record. Ms. Horne is a recipient of a CSI Scholarship (2007-2011), the Belle Zeller Scholarship Trust Fund (2008-2011), a Phi Beta Kappa Associates Award (2011), and the CUNY Model Senate Award at the Eighth Annual COPE Symposium in 2008. She is also a Dean’s List student and was featured in Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges for 2010-2011.
During her time at CSI, Ms. Horne has worked extensively with the Bertha Harris Women’s Center and the Campus Activities Board. She has won several awards for writing, including the English Department Creative Writing Award and the Women’s Center and “My Staten Island” essay contests. Ms. Horne is the founder of the Heads Up Awareness Program and has volunteered at the New York State Office of Family and Children’s Services.
While maintaining her academic excellence and community involvement, Ms. Horne has also managed several popular New York City clubs while raising a son with Hirshsprung’s Disease, a genetic disorder affecting the digestive system. In 2009, her son underwent two major corrective surgeries and Ms. Horne also suffered the loss of her father. Despite these hardships, Ms. Horne continued all of her academic and community work, and she is very proud to graduate this June with her son (who is graduating from kindergarten).
Ms. Horne is preparing for the fall LSATs and is applying for fall 2012 admission to law schools at the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, and Columbia University. Her goal is to combine two distinct interests about which she is passionate: juvenile justice reform and literature and writing. To this end, she is also working on an essay compilation focusing on how place defines identity and its effects on coming of age.
View a more detailed biography of Ms. Horne.
